


What Could Have Been

by followyourmemes



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: F/M, Implied Violence, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Mentions of Violence, Peraltiago, Threats of Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-12
Updated: 2018-08-12
Packaged: 2019-06-26 14:24:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15664998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/followyourmemes/pseuds/followyourmemes
Summary: 'Amy Santiago was 9 weeks pregnant with his child - their child, and she was tied to a chair at the opposite side of the room where Jake lay, beaten to a pulp.'In which Amy reveals her pregnancy in a last ditch attempt to save her life in a hostage situation, and Jake can only watch as he learns he's going to be a dad.





	What Could Have Been

'Maybe your girl will be more forthcoming with me..' sneered the large man who had had Jake Peralta held captive for the last few hours as he headed to the other side of the dull, lifeless room where Amy Santiago sat, tied to a chair.   
Large brown eyes widening in terror, only muffled, high pitched squeals could be made out from behind the tape covering her mouth. Jake tried to protest, to scream, to insist that the man carried on torturing him instead and leave Amy alone, but even putting every last drop of his will power into the task, all he could manage was a soft whisper of no, so faint that if the man had not been paying close attention to his reaction would've been lost to the surroundings which appeared almost as lifeless as Jake felt.   
The man had fully converted his attention to Amy and Jake felt guilty for the relief this momentary respite provided his aching body. Like being pulled from the water, the ringing in his ears subsided slightly and the mixture of sweat, tears and blood that laid heavy on his eyelids began to shift, allowing him to see the quaking figure of his wife more clearly.   
The day had started out with an excited buzz, Sargent Santiago and her husband Detective Peralta were about to make the biggest arrests of their careers, taking down a massive drug lord, after having spent months investigating his entire network. But something had gone wrong a long the way and amid the chaos, the pain and the torture, Jake had not had time to think of what it could've been. All his mind could focus on, all he had been able to fixate on in the last few hours was her. Amy. His wife. The woman who's screams had become background noise, who's protests with every hit he endured broke his heart. The woman who provided him with one silver lining in all of this, that it was him and not her. The pain that seared through every limb in his body would be completely worth it to Jake if it kept Amy safe.  
But he had failed her.  
He could only watch in horror as the man leaned uncomfortably close to Amy's face, every beautiful feature frozen in sheer terror, as he started to gently peel the tape from her mouth, taking his time in doing so as if sadistically savouring every ounce of terror seeping from Amy's heavy breath, every drop of sweat dripping from her forehead.  
'Want to thank your boyfriend - oh sorry, husband,' he said, turning to face Jake with a pointed expression, mocking him as he almost sang the word husband before continuing, 'because maybe if he'd given me what I wanted I might have been able to let your pretty self go,'  
Every muscle in Amy's face visibly tensed as the man ran his hand down her face slowly, once again savouring the moment.   
'Go. To. Hell,' Amy spat through her clenched jaw, trying her hardest not to betray the sheer terror that consumed her whole body. The man raised his eyebrows, as if to say 'very well', before lifting up some sharp tool, still soaked in Jake's blood high above his head, ready to strike Amy. As he prepared to lower the tool, Jake's deafening protests mixed with a pleading shout from Amy. A high pitched shout that Jake couldn't discern words from due to his own protesting, both internal and external, but a shout that had been enough to make the man stop dead in his tracks. A smile, a real genuine smile spread across his face as he moved closer to Amy. Endless thoughts began rushing through Jake's mind about what she could have said to make him stop, to make him smile. Jake panicked and said a prayer to just about every God he could think of that she hadn't told him anything about their CIs, or worse still, hadn't sacrificed herself for his wellbeing.   
The defeaning, almost ear splitting silence that had followed Amy's protest was soon replaced with sobs that wracked her entire body, her frame shaking in the chair and tears streaming down her face. She looked at Jake almost pleadingly, her eyes giving an unspoken apology and Jake's stomach turned as he had to watch the love of his life in immeasurable pain.  
'Well, Jakey, I'd have thought you'd be more helpful to me with what you've got to lose here,' he exclaimed incredulously, staring at Jake in shock and surprise as realisation dawned on his twisted features.  
'He doesn't know does he? My god this just keeps getting better!' he cried out, throwing his arms in the air as he turned back to Amy who sat, still sobbing.  
'Tell him. Go on.' he said with the kind of deadpan sincerity that unnerved Jake more than the smiling. Amy responded by sobbing louder, her sobs now almost hysterical as she tried her best to beg through her tears. Amy screamed as the man kicked her chair, forcing her to reveal to Jake what she'd shouted in a panic just minutes earlier, although the moment that had passed had felt like an eternity.  
Amy took deep breaths in, her shoulders shaking as they rose and fell as the petrified Sargent tried to steady her breathing and ease her tears ready to speak.  
'I'm 9 weeks pregnant,' she choked out in a voice barely more than a whisper, and barely audible to the stunned Detective through the persistent ringing in his ears. Jake could hear his world shatter around him as his eyes remained locked on those of Amy Santiago from opposite ends of the room. The maniacal cackling of the man faded into the background as once again Jake's thoughts swirled round his head. She was pregnant, with his baby. Amy Santiago was 9 weeks pregnant with his child - their child, and she was tied to a chair at the opposite side of the room where Jake lay, beaten to a pulp. For a brief moment he allowed himself to feel the elation most people would in that situation, pictures of him and Amy laughing on a park with a little boy with his soft curls and smile and her big brown eyes and nose. Pictures of him sat helping a little girl with messy pigtails with her homework, feeling both embarrassed at being outsmarted by such a young child and proud that this tiny, intelligent human who was destined to change the world was half him. He had barely been allowed enough time for a smile to flush across his features when he was cruelly smacked back town to reality by the flashes of blue and red lights that seeped in through the tiny glass windows at the top of the room. The faint smile became a beam, one that was matched by Amy when they realised that finally, after long, agonising hours their squad had found them.   
As quick as the relief had flooded them, dread and fear had flooded the man, he stormed towards Amy with the same terrifying sincerity as earlier and her eyes widened in the same terror as the man began a viscous tirade against Amy, one final act of defiance against the people who had caught him out before the squad could get to him. It became too hard to pick voices apart as the Man's merged with Amy and Jake's screams of terror and Captain Holt's shouts for the man to surrender. As the man was arrested and taken away, Jake rushed to hold his wife's still and lifeless body, a voice in his head telling him this would be the last time, as she lay on the hard ground, cold hands clutching her belly warmed only by the pool of blood that surrounded her. Everything became a blur to Jake as members of his squad tried to move him away from Amy so the paramedics could get to her, as he muttered the word 'baby' under his voice on repeat, sobs unable to come out, as if his body has shut down with hers.  
\----------------------- 3 weeks later ---------------------------------------------  
Jake watched the soft rise and fall of his unconscious wife's chest as he had done every second for the last three weeks. Every now and then, his heart would flutter in tune with her soft eyelashes as he grasped at the hope today might be the day his wife might awaken. But with every second that passed a tiny part of his mind would tell him that he would never see Amy's brown eyes open again, that he would never hear her tell him she loves him, or that he's smort, or noice. Jake tried to ignore it, his heart still full of hope. But even the most resilient, the most determined, hopeful corners of his heart broke with the suggestion that his wife may soon be a memory, a nice dream when he finally allows himself sleep. That he may soon be visiting a grave for his beloved, as well as mourning the death of the baby that he would never know, never even have a grave for.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much to anyone who made it to this point! I know it's not the best so any and all feedback is appreciated (but please don't be too harsh!)


End file.
